Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1887-04-09
VICTIM OF CONSPIRACY.

u.n Kong, Charged with Assault to
Kill. Gets $50 and Costs for As
sault.
Tho ease of the Territory OF Montana vs.
uen Kong, charged with assault Win IN
1877 70 kill, created a good deal OF interest
- the District Court yesterday. The case
..oi,st Kong was a very strong n and
49, result-acquittal of this grave charge
I'd finding him guilty Of q simple assault
tribute to the u~ntiring ef-
,.-,s If Colonel John w. Curtis, who was
'"s;oned by the Court to defend the prison.
or and whose maiden effort this is in prac-
tire at the criminal bar.
Tho case came up soon after the noon re-
.ss and Colonel Curtis first action was
&c Jemur to the indictment. The court
overruled this, and the Colonel saved the
Lint for use in case the verdict vent against
u. Client. There were three white and five
rhinese witnesses for the prosecution and
.nme for the d tense. The evidence ad-
5uced show ed that on the 20 of February
IaSt Hen Kong, the defendant, went into
hause in Chinatown and there met All
Tono the prosecuting witness, who called
lin An o%pprobrious epithet rejecting upon
lie (Kong's) maternal ancestry coupled
"ab the adjective "queue.cut." Kong, it
,hould be remarked, has concerned to
AMERICAN customs so far as to have his
oneIe cut off and wears his capillary at
eminent shingled. He is therefore an OBJ
;ct of detestation to orthodox Cinnamon
and had been made the subject of severe
Jrarcinn NV tho man oy.d Unynon NJ /
HE race here. All Long was one of his worst
tormentors and the p~rovocation he re-
os;ved frenzied him so that he incontinent- |
" drew a six-inch dagger and stabbed All |
long three times. He immediately turned
ord fed from the house with about twenty
sveCbinamen in pursuit and as manywhites.
Hp was overtaken and arrested by Chief
cody who took him redhanded, with the
resing dagger in his hand. which was
nrodnced in evidence. At the examination
before the committing Magistrate. Judge
wounds. and admitted that if he ever got
out he would kill All Long. This Judge
Notation testified in court yesterday, and
also that Hen Kong stated that Alb Long
had for a long time prosecuted him with
taunts because he had his queue cut of,
and he (Hen Kong didn'tcare what he had
done, and asked the United States to hang
him then and there without further delay.
He had been badgered to that extent that
life had become a burden to him. and he
had become reckless of consequences. This
was established on the testimony OF Judge
Mediation, ex-Deputy Sheriff Shortsleeve
and Chief Cody.
The prosecuting witness, All Long, swore
that he was sitting at q table when Hen
Kong came in; that he never spoke a word {
TO him. and that Kong came up to him and
stabbed him where he was sitting, without 4
urovocation. A Chinese woman testified
ia the same effect. The whole Chinese COM
munty entertained q feeling of hatred to j
All Kong, which was developed in the evil
dspce given by the witnesses OF THAT nation !,
aHty who went on the stand. All the evil ..
dence adduced was dead, against, the unfort- .
mate Kong, and the Cross examination
ofColonel Curtis could not shake the facts g
in the case a particle, only to develop the r
intense feeling against him among his own
race. q
The task before Colonel Curtis was no n
slight one. He had only himself to rely
upon. 1t was his maiden effort at terminal G
practice, and the feelings of the jury were c,
all he could look to work upon for a favor I
able result for his client. In his address to
the Jury he began thus: May it please the al
court. Gentlemen of the jury, ! am per. +,
haps the only attorney in the United States n,
who has ever enjoyed the distinction of de- r
fen ing q queueless Chinaman in a court of -
Justice. For reasons that are unnecessary to e
enumerate here, we are all more or less pre- c.
iudiced against the members of the Chinese a.
race in this country. They are here all "a
over the Pacific Coast and in the cities of
the East as far at the Atlantic seaboard, tn
and wherever they are they are looked on &C
with feelings of prejudice and distrust. 81
" how bo w hpop tho 90 uan nj tho Ia hnr rinfa / CD
west of here, and in many towns have been
hunted and maltreated like criminals, their tn
property destroyed and their lives taken. al,
All this and the causes leading to this di
deplorable state of affairs are known to nj
you and l need not further allude to
the fact. l am free to confess that We
myself am no exception to the general r,
Keeling, and SD feeling l can. but congratu- de
late myself on the fact that I represent the Gu
honorable Court. Though his skin is of
Mongolian hue. in spite of human pride "A
he is still our brother in form, accepted and m,
approved by his Father and yours and IN
mine, and bears equally with us, the proud IN,
est inheritance OF our race, the image of ~
our Maker" Colonel Curtis ALLUDED to the M
iact OF the prisoners Americanization by d;
severing the queue and dwelt on the fact -
that the assault was not on a white man, ~.
OuG one OF his own race" on a SlmOn-pure ~
Chinaman ofthe type against 10y
which public sentiment in this country has M'
time and again o ted to deeds of blood. gr'
Had the prisoner succeeded in carrying out VI
he intent as named in the indictment- ev
lay more, had he sent a train load oil Celes. ".
las to the China Heaven it. !
probable he would have been W
public benefactor in the opinion stl
i this community. It hae been said that be-
is no good Indian but dead ones, and ire
this 81 ying were made to include these ov
elest'als there would be less kicking on in
bis western SLOPE" Colonel Curtis vent tn
n in this strain dwelling on the enlighten- Gig
'ent of the prisoner and the hatred and de-
OF the Chinese against him for \
nat act and hoping that the jury would bri
Of complete the vindictive acts of the pri- No
,ners' countrymen by finding him guilty we.
a crime to which be had been egged on wa
robably by a conspiracy in which a pow. br'
organization OF rich and INSCRIPTIONS cal
llnese was a potent factor. w
The Jury retired and were out about an tn,
our when they returned into court with a tn,
erdlct finding the prisoner guilty of SIM Tn
assault. Colonel Curtis was coDgratU. wa
ted on every hand at the triumph he had of
on and was the recipient OF numerous ing
'npliments. wit